Michael Dennis Rivers

"Bug God Who is this bug, Why is he here, And where did he come from? What does he want, Ugly thing, Crawling across my vision Affront to my eyes. I shall chuff him With my foot And jeet him into ete..."

"Very Many Ahnymal Very many ahnymal Tiny time dey vie, Den you have de other ones, Hundred years dey nigh. One ting, really, dats for sure... They ALL gonna die. Very many ahnymal, Here ..."

"Winter Dog Walk Nightly after work We go, The wife and I, With dogs in tow, Or tow us ‘til We come on ice And snow. Then she to me: Hey, Give us an arm.” Once by the ice She’ll say, “Thanks.” And ..."

"“Queer,” I think, On dog walk In this lonely field, “Why are all these Binkies here?” The morning paper Makes the answer clear; A Rave, Ecstasy. All night music plays While druggie girlz With grindi..."

"The sun comes up, The sky erupts In pastel shades of peach. To richest first, They quench their thirst In high-rise condo niche. That swelling light That’s warm and bright That further cannot reach...."

"I started a new job And wanted to know How long it would take me To come and to go. I started my stopwatch And drove my car so I was going ‘bout average Not fast and not slow, But I was distracted,..."

"We drank a drunk of drinks And sang a juke of songs. We danced and danced the night Then fucked ‘til nearly dawn. You loved me dearly then And now you’re clearly gone. What happened to our love? What..."

"In the church of San Vitali ‘Gainst a dark and shadowed wall Stands the candle sniffing snuffer Waiting at our beck and call; Stands the candle sniffing snuffer Who will snuff out candles all. Does i..."

"It’s not the light bulb, It’s the light I love. I love when darkness Wraps me in its glove. I hear no singer In my ear It is the music That I hear And when the Music’s gone away I love the quiet Ti..."

"For JFK Jr. The mirror slipped From her hand As she walked along. It rolled and flipped Reflecting all around it And hit the ground And broke into a million pieces. Each piece reflected something dif..."

"Morning of spring, Evening of fall, The quiet light, Not so dark, Not so bright, Not so hot, not so cold, Like the faces we see With forgotten names. Vague memories of passing people In the painful co..."

"Kamal and Aïda She loves him not This homely man But loves his love of her. She’d have him not As God would have A woman love a man. She’d rather not This commoner, Though death he would prefer. S..."

"Numen Descent of waters, Receiver of stress, Volatilizer, Steamer of steam. You rise above the Falls, The symbolic transformer of Unconscious material, Numen.Paraphrased from AWAD Written December..."

"Late one night when I came home drunk, Feelin all woozy and covered with funk. I’d drank a lot of beer and had ta take a piss, So I threw up the lid cuz I didn’t wanna miss. There on the seat that was..."

"“Um Like…” Our language is living, “I said…” was the way. Now, “Um like…" is how kids say “I said…” today.This poem is dedicated to English teachers who hate hearing their students use "Um like" ..."

"New Year 2002 (genus: Homarus Americanus) For New Year’s Celebration A boiled live Crustacean. We sit with covered eyes His claws from bag are pryed He screams, “I doanwannadie, Repatriation!” In ..."

"I saw a dead pigeon and the way it lay held sway over my thoughts today; So peaceful, not akimbo, not on its back with claws raking dead air, No screwed up head, screwed up eyes, no tongue out. It w..."

"Accident There was a girl crying In muted hysteria. I stopped my motorcycle Beside the fatal car, Looked in And saw a woman die. I saw life leave her lips. She was slouched against the driver’s door..."

"Collateral Damage They were riding on the tailgate of a military truck. She was holding the child on her lap In such a way that, from my spot, the child’s hair looked like a beard on the mother, wh..."

"In the mountains … the mother and her children look for wood the Americans have been bombing from way up … There is little left Everything is black We will die We are cold and hngry Stupid people, w..."

"The HunterIn early spring,Orion stalkingfrom his winter prominence,down low and dimin eastern sky,takes with himhis bright dog, Sirius.There is a March windin my face.'Soon,' I think,'we will save day..."

"This Can’t Be Me Upon closer inspection In my mirror, I see, in the corners of my eyes, Or when I pull at my nostrils, Or open my mouth to speak, That I am a massive clump Of writhing maggots, A pap..."

"Keeping the Young Wife in Bananas It’s hard, you know, being old With a young wife Whose young life Keeps me bold. I work at it, Keeping the bananas firm for her They have a tendency, As they ripen,..."

"Petting It was the beginning of love, With a Catholic upbringing, No sex education, And a fear of the unknown. How I got such a nice girl or why she liked me, I’ll never know. I knew I loved her,..."

"Untitled Love Poem I’ve lost my mind so serpentine, so labyrinthine? This maze, this haze, it draws me in. I must get through these twisted vines. these zigzag lines. I know, I know, I’ll turn aroun..."

"The Bowler and The Strike (a poem for two voices) She was a dear thing;_________You’re up! His head jerked,______________He stepped to the line He coughed,___________________and exhaled. He took a dr..."

"Tongue Love Song Hey baby, I wanna stick my tongue Down your throat, Up your nasal passage And out your nose. I wanna tie it in a knot So I can keep your face Close to mine. I wanna stick it in one..."

"Grease Spot I wish I were a grease spot On the paper of my poem. Wow… if that could be… If I could sit and see the readers face, His smile as words embrace his lips And trace the meaning that is me,..."

"Gibbous Moon Soon the waxing Gibbous moon Will fill to full And light the night A blue-white glow. And we will say: “My God, It’s just like day!” Even though We know It really isn’t so. Written Febru..."

"I Grasshopper, scared by the Shadow of a passing bird, Jumped into the cold ashes Of yesterday's campfire. He broke through the delicate Outer crust and sank like A skater on thin ice Into the gray ..."

"To love and lose and pain And love and lose again And again and pain. Better this to choose Than never love again For fear to lose.This is not about people, it's about loving animals that have a shor..."

"The early pyramids were beautiful, They had large picture windows. Then tomb-raiders made it necessary For the Egyptians to block them in. Written February 17th, 2002 © on Feb 16 2002 11:14 PM PST, s..."

"(Die! I can't die! If I die, who will pick my nose?) We are all moving around, Statues, floating inches Above the ground/lawn, (you can use ground or lawn) Coming and going And going then gone.Arthu..."

"Bill’s (Offensive language) (Barbed wire fences, buried in trees, only hurt when the wind blows) Each day, when all the work is done, We mechanics must drive The cars out front and park them So they..."

"Shards Beautiful shards of butterfly wings, These are the things That I saw on my second pass, As I mowed my grass. Written February 18th, 1999 © on Feb 18 2002 12:37 AM PST, same as above   0 • 1"

"At the Deli I went to the market With my wife the other day. She sent me to the deli counter To get some sliced ham and turkey. I said to the woman behind the counter: “A pound of ham and a pound of ..."

"(Text only for Passiontide, Music and Refrains not included) Part the First Peeps (Sung Basso Staccato, with rasping insanity) Every Easter I buy Peeps, little chicks, Yellow covered, marshmall..."

"(“It is not hard to see, all that is needed is patience.” Saramaga) How can the so nice music Be created by such evil people? Maybe the deep look takes time? How is it that some voices, Some faces th..."

"Many of us have poor bowel habits; we hurry in and hurry out; we force ourselves; we take medicines and stick things up our anuses. There is a better way for us to eliminate waste from our bodies. I ..."

"Vista Desde Alcazar “Y botas” No hay botas para mi?” “No tienes zapatos?” “Solamente sandalias.” “Tendras que arreglartelas con ellas, aqui esta tu uniforme.” “Como?  Este uniforme esta hecho de ..."

"Impression at Alcazar (Conversation between an inductee and the supply officer) “How about boots, Don’t I get boots?” “Have you no shoes?” “Only sandals.” “They will have to do, Here is your unif..."

"Nobody realizes The importance of shadows On radiatorsThis is my first Haiku and it is for Myra. Written February 24th, 2002 © on Feb 24 2002 01:50 AM PST, same as above   0 • 12"

"Bus Shit I slink down the aisle, whimpering dog, secretive, shit in my pants giving me away; smell follows, eyes follow, snickers follow. A turd drops out of my pant leg as I fumble down the steps, ..."

"It is sad the gaps left between the digitals not analog smooth Written February 25th, 2002 © on Feb 25 2002 07:25 AM PST, same as above   0 • 10"

"Dat Was Dat “Who dat?” “Oh, dat da fat cat.” “Da fat cat Dat splat dat rat Dat sat on dat mat?” “Yah, dat da cat.” “Why dat fat cat splat dat rat?” “Well, dat rat got a bat and splat dat knat d..."

"Chopin polonaise Soft mellow gray winter day The truck heater warmsHummm, polonaise? I wonder? Hummmm? Written February 28th, 2002 © on Feb 28 2002 12:13 AM PST, same as above   0 • 10"

"Pulsating pecker Spewing semen everywhere Spring is in the air Written March 7th, 2002 © on Mar 07 2002 12:11 AM PST, same as above   0 • 16"

"What does it matter after we are gone from among them? All stiff and still, wide eyed, Happy smile faces, long teeth, leather skinned, all laying around in piles while our spirits circle, circle ove..."

"Limerick Joke #1 Ms. Betty was good in her ways, when she came to the end of her days, to heaven was sent and that’s where she went, St. Peter the greeter be praised. While Betty and Peter wer..."

"Later you see that those big bright “elations” Are not all you thought they were. Their “shine” dims after a while And eventually becomes dark, even black Like the rot on your teeth, so close Yet so a..."

"Old Bill, my neighbor, Fought in the Pacific Theater, New Guinea or someplace? Up in the mountains, In the caves, like in Afghanistan. They tied dynamite on the dogs, like Muslim martyrs and sent them..."

"The cool tattoo round her navel, its glamour was laid to rest, somewhere between her fourth kid and her sagging pendulous breasts.no disrespect meant girls eh eh Written March 16th, 2002 © on Mar 16 ..."

"He parked his DeVille conspicuously In front of the Uptown Grille and Sneaked over to the Hong Kong Buffet Which was hard to do because he was Such a very big man.  He could eat a lot too. Sometimes ..."

"He didn’t eat all day but now he will. He pulled his big Coupe DeVille, the food mobster, a BIG guy! into the Red Lobster just for show but this big spender’s gonna swill at Ray’s Super King Buffet wi..."

"Dreams, chalk-like are wiped from your headboard by the morning's light.This isn't a haiku Written March 21st, 2002 © on Mar 21 2002 08:03 AM PST, same as above   0 • 10"

"I Round Table With Knights Merlin built the table, Not the knights. They were vain and faulted And what a table! Huge hardwood segments perfectly put together, oiled and polished, flawless. Knights o..."

"The undoing of a man, we say, is at the hand of his femme fatal. So the undoing of a gal, we may also say, would be at the hand of her guy lethal. Well then, what happens when femme fatal meets g..."

"Just finished up another 40 lb. bag of dog food.  Took the empty bag out in the backyard and cleaned up all the dog crap.  Filled the bag so I put it out front with the recyclables.We have to stop ..."

"Bar I go to, hungry, what you got to eat? We've got cake and cock And we're out of cake Written April 3rd, 2002 © on Apr 03 2002 02:34 PM PST, same as above   0 • 16"

"How sweet the sound of a Harley starting. The sudden explosion and rapid fire bursts that rip the quiet air.Cool Written April 4th, 2002 © on Apr 04 2002 07:59 AM PST, same as above   0 • 16"